Radio Free Asia, May 5, 2017
Authorities in Vietnam have issued a warrant for the arrest of an activist blogger who has drawn attention to the government’s handling of a toxic waste spill last year that devastated the country’s central coast, he and a fellow rights campaigner said Friday.
The warrant to arrest Bach Hong Quyen—a champion of democracy, human rights and the environment—was signed into effect on April 19, fellow activist Thao Teresa told RFA’s Vietnamese Service, adding that Quyen anticipates he could be detained at any time.
“Warrant No. 245 was obtained in Ha Tinh province and [information about the warrant] was published by the Ha Tinh media,” she said.
“Quyen plans to allow them to arrest him, though he doesn’t know how the arrest will be carried out.”
Teresa said the blogger, who has reported on last year’s toxic waste spill by Taiwan-owned Formosa Plastics Group’s steel plant in Ha Tinh, has “two options available to him now.”
“One is to flee to another country, but he does not like that option,” she said.
“He always knew he would one day go to jail for his activism.”
Quyen told RFA that he is prepared to serve time in prison.
“I accepted it when I chose this path fighting for human rights, because I am a member of the Vietnam Path movement—the mission of which is to act as an advocate and educate people about their rights,” he said.
“The possibility of being arrested does not scare me or hold me back, because we must fight when there is injustice.”
Several activists have been harassed by the authorities for covering the April 2016 Formosa waste spill, which killed an estimated 115 tons of fish and left fishermen jobless in four coastal provinces, or for their involvement in protests against the company.
Earlier this week, thugs believed hired by local police assaulted Hanoi-based activist Le My Hanh, who had slammed the government’s handling of the spill, and two others at her friend’s home in Ho Chi Minh City. A man believed to have orchestrated the beating posted a video of the incident on his Facebook page.
Last week, nearly a thousand protesters surrounded a police station in central Vietnam’s Nghe An province to demand an apology from authorities for their confiscation of 200 T-shirts carrying Formosa protest slogans and beating of the two men caught transporting the shirts.
Formosa has voluntarily paid U.S. $500 million to clean up and compensate coastal residents affected by the spill, but slow and uneven payout of the funds by the Vietnamese government has prompted protests that continue to be held more than a year later.
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May 6, 2017
Vietnam Issues Arrest Warrant for Activist Blogger
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights]
Radio Free Asia, May 5, 2017
Authorities in Vietnam have issued a warrant for the arrest of an activist blogger who has drawn attention to the government’s handling of a toxic waste spill last year that devastated the country’s central coast, he and a fellow rights campaigner said Friday.
The warrant to arrest Bach Hong Quyen—a champion of democracy, human rights and the environment—was signed into effect on April 19, fellow activist Thao Teresa told RFA’s Vietnamese Service, adding that Quyen anticipates he could be detained at any time.
“Warrant No. 245 was obtained in Ha Tinh province and [information about the warrant] was published by the Ha Tinh media,” she said.
“Quyen plans to allow them to arrest him, though he doesn’t know how the arrest will be carried out.”
Teresa said the blogger, who has reported on last year’s toxic waste spill by Taiwan-owned Formosa Plastics Group’s steel plant in Ha Tinh, has “two options available to him now.”
“One is to flee to another country, but he does not like that option,” she said.
“He always knew he would one day go to jail for his activism.”
Quyen told RFA that he is prepared to serve time in prison.
“I accepted it when I chose this path fighting for human rights, because I am a member of the Vietnam Path movement—the mission of which is to act as an advocate and educate people about their rights,” he said.
“The possibility of being arrested does not scare me or hold me back, because we must fight when there is injustice.”
Several activists have been harassed by the authorities for covering the April 2016 Formosa waste spill, which killed an estimated 115 tons of fish and left fishermen jobless in four coastal provinces, or for their involvement in protests against the company.
Earlier this week, thugs believed hired by local police assaulted Hanoi-based activist Le My Hanh, who had slammed the government’s handling of the spill, and two others at her friend’s home in Ho Chi Minh City. A man believed to have orchestrated the beating posted a video of the incident on his Facebook page.
Last week, nearly a thousand protesters surrounded a police station in central Vietnam’s Nghe An province to demand an apology from authorities for their confiscation of 200 T-shirts carrying Formosa protest slogans and beating of the two men caught transporting the shirts.
Formosa has voluntarily paid U.S. $500 million to clean up and compensate coastal residents affected by the spill, but slow and uneven payout of the funds by the Vietnamese government has prompted protests that continue to be held more than a year later.